


Solace

by mychemicalcass



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Night Terrors, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23522446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mychemicalcass/pseuds/mychemicalcass
Summary: Ciel has a particularly bad nightmare, and who else is there to comfort him but his ever-so-dutiful butler?
Relationships: Sebastian Michaelis/Ciel Phantomhive
Comments: 5
Kudos: 156





	Solace

When night falls, the Phantomhive manor calms to a nice, peaceful silence, something Sebastian greatly enjoys after all of the chaos the servants create during the day. Tonight, however, the blissful silence is disturbed by a blood curdling screaming.

Sebastian recognizes his little lord’s scream anywhere and is by his side in an instant. He knows his life is not at stake, and he does not sense any danger, but he still doesn’t waste time in appearing by his side. 

Inside of the large bedroom, Sebastian finds Ciel huddled under the blankets, only his little hands visible as they clutch the blankets around him. “My lord?” Sebastian begins, taking a few steps forward. “Are you alright?”

He must admit, he’s a bit shocked that Ciel appears to have suffered a nightmare tonight. While he did continue to have them, they had become far rarer over the years, and he had not endured one in quite some time. 

Ciel doesn’t answer him, which is not all that surprising. Sebastian moves slowly to try to avoid spooking him too much, coming to crouch in front of the trembling boy on the bed. “Young master, did you have a nightmare tonight?” Again, there is no response. The demon frowns a bit and reaches a hand out to the boy. “Come, young master, you should try to rest—”

Sebastian is startled by the sudden reaction Ciel gives, disentangling his foot from under his cocoon of blankets to kick him away, screaming at him not to touch him. Sebastian’s eyes widen slightly before he composes himself and once again comes to crouch in front of the boy. Ciel has pulled the blankets even tighter around himself, his eyes wide and glazed over, unfocused. 

“It was nothing but a dream, my lord, you have nothing to be afraid of. There is no one here but you and me.” The Earl’s breathing is ragged, giving no inclination that he hears what is being said to him, and Sebastian is left a bit dumbfounded. Ciel has never been so unresponsive before, and even after his worst nightmares logic would bring him back to his senses. That doesn’t seem to be working at the moment. 

“My lord,” Sebastian tries again, watching him carefully for any reaction but finding nothing. “My lord.” Again, nothing. “ _Ciel_ ,” he says sternly, and the boy finally seems to focus his gaze on the demon in front of him. “Seb-Sebastian?”

His voice is so very quiet, and oh-so-broken. An uncomfortable feeling arises deep in Sebastian, something he would almost classify as pity, but no, demons do not feel, they do not sympathize with mortals. “Yes, my lord, it’s me. It’s just you and me in here, in the manor.”

Ciel nods slightly, eyes still bugged out. “Right. Right, the manor. We’re at the manor,” he murmurs, mostly to himself. Sebastian still isn’t completely sure what to do with himself, no matter how many times he’s comforted the boy it still isn’t exactly his strong suit, but he doesn’t let it show. “That is precisely right. There’s no one else in this room. No one is going to hurt you.” 

Ciel continues to stare at Sebastian for a long few minutes, slowly calming down and returning to his senses. He loosens his grip on the blankets, letting them fall and pool around his waist. As they drop, Sebastian takes notice of the small scratches on his lord’s face, then sees his bloody fingernails. He tuts, a small frown working its way onto his face. 

“Now how did you manage to do this?” Sebastian asks, reaching out to let his fingers hover over the scratches. Ciel gasps fearfully at the approach of his hand, swatting it away and scrambling back. “P-Please,” he chokes, “Don’t--Don’t touch me.” Again, Sebastian finds himself a bit lost. His lord is still rejecting his touch? How odd. This must’ve been an especially bad nightmare.

“If I may ask, what plagued your sleep tonight, my lord? I think I would be better equipped to help you if I knew what was troubling you so much,” he questions, voice soft, too soft for one of his kind. There is a long pause after he speaks, and he waits for Ciel to come to a decision as to whether or not he wants to tell him. Eventually, he speaks. 

“They…” he starts slowly, eyes wide again as he hugs his knees to his chest, “They were--” The sentence is brought to a halt as Ciel presses a palm to his mouth, but Sebastian can still make out the muffled sob. His brows crinkle in concern, for he almost never sees his lord cry. He could count all the times it’s happened on one hand, and almost all of them were from his first few months after captivity. 

Sebastian dislikes that he can do nothing but sit and wait for the boy to work up the courage to continue speaking. If he reaches out for him he’ll only startle the poor boy again. He watches him, again feeling that strange feeling of pity blooming in his chest. It’s not something he likes, nor is it something he ever experiences. The anguish of this boy’s soul adds to its flavor, and it’s something he typically relishes, so why does he feel such disdain upon seeing him cry at the moment?

Ciel’s shoulders shake with silent sobs, the only thing clearly audible being hiccupping gasps as the boy catches his breath. “I haven’t—I haven’t dreamt of this in l-long time,” he whispers, fingers once again locking around the blanket as he tugs it up again. “Their—Their hands were a-all over me,” he chokes out, the sentence distorted by a heavy sob. “They wouldn’t st-stop. I couldn’t—I didn’t want them to. I wanted them to—to stop.” Ciel brings his knees closer to his chest, head hanging low so his hair is shielding his face. The next line he utters is so quiet that Sebastian almost misses it, “I felt so—so filthy.”

It’s not hard for Sebastian to put the pieces together, and pity is replaced by hellfire blazing in his chest. How was this something he had not known earlier? He’s disgusted with himself for not being able to sense their filthy stench all over the boy, but the past is in the past now, and there’s nothing he can do about it. All he can do now is try to calm him. 

“My lord…” Sebastian says quietly, utterly at a loss for words. This is definitely not something he’s had to deal with before, he’s never had to deal with Ciel so broken before. After his usual nightmares all it took was a few reassurances and the boy was soothed. That is not the case this time, however, and Sebastian is unsure how to approach the situation. The way humans process trauma is something he does not understand, and he has no idea what to do for this boy at the moment. 

“You know I will never do anything like that to you, my lord,” Sebastian tells him. “I cannot lie, that is something I never plan on doing and it is something that has never and will never cross my mind.” Ciel just stares at him with wide, teary eyes. He knows Sebastian is telling the truth, everything he tells him is the truth, but he finds it so hard to accept it right now. 

“Will you let me clean you up, young master? I do not wish for any of those scrapes to get infected,” Sebastian says, unsure whether or not Ciel will allow himself to be touched. Unsurprisingly, the boy shakes his head, and presses himself to the headboard. The demon sighs, and brings himself to sit on the edge of the bed. Ciel instantly goes to move away, but pauses when Sebastian speaks. 

“Surely you cannot be that fearful of me, my lord? I have been by your side for years now, you must know that I have no ill intentions whatsoever. My top priority always has been and always will be your health and safety.” 

Sebastian holds a hand out, letting Ciel decide for himself whether or not he wants to come forward and take it. “You have the power to order me away whenever you want, if that comforts you.” The boy nods, a bit soothed at the reminder of that. He scooches forward, watching the demon carefully. He takes the demon’s hand cautiously, letting himself be led off of the bed and towards the bathroom. 

Sebastian’s very careful with how he treats his master, as he doesn’t wish to send him into a fit. He wets a towel with warm water, gently cleaning away the blood on his face and underneath his fingernails. “The scrapes are not too bad, and they should heal in a few days time,” he tells the boy, who gives no response. Despite how gentle and careful Sebastian is being, he’s tense, entire body rigid, terrified that the hands on him will begin to wander.

“I’m not going to patch any of them up right now, but come morning if any of them look particularly irritated I might make the decision to bandage them. Of course, I will have to think of a reason that you’re covered in scratches.” Sebastian speaks as if everything is normal in an attempt to take his master’s mind off of the nightmare he’d had, though he isn’t completely sure if this is the best approach to take. It is, however, the only approach he can think of. Ciel doesn’t answer him, and the fear behind his eyes doesn’t dissipate. 

Sebastian frowns, and stops what he’s doing. He must think of another way to go about this, as he’s clearly not helping his master all that much. “There’s truly no reason to be afraid, my lord. You know that your well-being is my number one concern, and I have no intentions of doing anything to harm you.” Ciel nods slowly, but doesn’t seem all that comforted. 

Sebastian is trying to think of something to do to calm his master—what kind of butler would he be if he couldn’t?—but everything he says seems to go in one ear and out the other. As much as he hates to admit it, comfort is not his strong suit, as he rarely has to deal with things like this. “My lord,” he begins, voice softer than he’s ever heard it before, “if I could do anything to undo what they’ve done, I would. I’m a failure of a butler to not have known all this time what they did, and I apologize. But you must understand, I always have been and I always will be on your side, I will never do anything to betray you or hurt you.” He knows he cares too much, he knows a demon like him shouldn’t be saying such things and actually _meaning_ them, but what is he supposed to do about it?

Ciel watches Sebastian intently as he speaks, most likely searching for any clue that he’s lying. He finds nothing, because Sebastian is speaking the _painfully true_ truth, and he seems to relax, if only a bit. “It’s not like you to say things like that,” he says, and the small jab tells Sebastian that Ciel is starting to feel a bit more like himself. He considers responding with a jab of his own, to lighten the mood, but he finds that he doesn’t want to. He wants his lord to know that he shouldn’t ever fear that he’ll do something to him. 

“That’s true,” Sebastian tells him, “But I felt it needed to be said. I care very deeply for you, my lord, and I dislike seeing you in discomfort.” Ciel seems a bit taken aback, pink dusting his cheeks. Sebastian never says things like that, it’s very much unlike him. “That’s surprising coming from a demon.” Sebastian can tell that he still has his doubts about what he’s being told, doubts he supposes are warranted. It was unlikely for a demon to feel such a way, much more than unlikely, actually, and Ciel is still shaken up from his nightmare. 

“This isn’t something I would make up, my lord. Despite the fact that one of our agreements was for me to never lie, I still wouldn’t say things like that if I didn’t mean them,” Sebastian responds, voice still very gentle. “Our relationship has been built upon trust, so I want to make it clear that you can trust me, even if you can trust no one else,” he adds. He sees Ciel slowly begin to release the tension in his body, shoulders slouching down from their rigid position. 

“Thank you,” Ciel says quietly, casting his gaze to the side in a rare moment of sheepishness. Sebastian decides not to tease him about it, it most certainly is not the time. “Of course, my lord. Now come, you still need your rest to ensure you’re energized enough for your schedule tomorrow,” Sebastian says, though he has every intention on moving things around to give Ciel a bit of a relaxing day tomorrow. Ciel nods and allows Sebastian to his bed. 

The covers are placed around him again, and when Sebastian turns to leave, Ciel stops him and grabs the sleeve of his tailcoat. “Wait—” he says, and while it isn’t unusual for him to ask Sebastian to stay until he falls asleep, this time is a bit different. “S-Stay here, until I fall asleep,” he says quietly, and when Sebastian nods and takes position next to his bed, Ciel softly pats the spot on the bed next to him. Sebastian has become a source of comfort for him, and he’s still feeling particularly vulnerable after the nightmare, so he wants him closer. Just to make him feel a bit safer.

Sebastian is a bit surprised by that, but obeys and removes his shoes to sit beside Ciel on the bed. The boy says nothing, just lays back against the pillows and, after a few minutes of working up the courage to do so, shifts himself closer to the demon and places his head on his thigh. Again, Sebastian is surprised, but can’t help but smile at the display. His young master always tries so hard to behave maturely and grown up, so it’s nice to see him relax for once and show his more tender side. He cards his fingers through the boys hair slowly, feeling him relax into the touch. 

It isn’t long until Ciel falls asleep like this, his hand even bunched in the fabric of Sebastian’s pant leg, and even after he dozes off the demon stays and continues to run his fingers through his hair. He doesn’t usually stay the entire night after his masters nightmares—though he’ll stay for awhile to ensure he doesn’t wake up again—but it doesn’t feel right to leave tonight. He also doesn’t necessarily want to leave, he finds himself enjoying the domestic moment, which is unusual for him as a demon. Ciel is not his typical contractor, though, he feels certain things for him that he hasn’t felt for any of the previous humans he’s made contracts with. He doesn’t mind it, though. He just wonders how their relationship with one another will continue to grow until the end of their contract.

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh I’ve FINALLY gotten around to finishing one of my hundred unfinished fics. Hope y’all enjoyed the angst :)


End file.
